No, Virginia, Anaheim isn’t set to ban Donald Trump

On Saturday, I received an email from a good friend who was concerned that Anaheim is set to ban GOP front-runner Donald Trump from the city. According to the email I received, a number of people apparently believe that the city council is set to vote on a resolution to keep Trump from the largest city in Orange County, California.

I looked into this and found that no, that isn’t the case.

The claim seems to stem from a story published by the Orange County Register that says the council is prepared to vote on a resolution condemning his political rhetoric.

According to the Register:

Councilwoman Kris Murray is asking her colleagues on the City Council to join her in denouncing presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric, which many have said disparages Muslims, Latinos, women and other demographic groups.

The council is expected to vote Tuesday on Murray’s resolution.

“It’s important for the city to take a stand against divisive rhetoric that demeans large portions of our residents,” Murray, a registered Republican, said on Friday.

A pro-Trump rally is planned for Tuesday’s meeting, according to activist group We the People Rising.

That resolution actually exists and can be seen here. The resolution concludes:

The Anaheim City Council does hereby reject and condemn the divisive rhetoric of presidential candidate Donald Trump as contrary to the fundamental principles of the State of California and U.S. Constitutions and as not being reflective of the City of Anaheim’s guiding principles of inclusiveness and kindness.

You can check the whole thing out for yourself and see that there is no call to ban Trump from the city.

At last night’s city council meeting, I called for a resolution condemning the rhetoric of Donald Trump and the violent actions of his staff and supporters, all condoned by Trump during this unprecedented presidential campaign.

Anaheim is the 10th largest city in the State of California and the largest city in the County of Orange. We are one of the oldest cities in the state with a diverse fabric of neighborhoods that make up our great city. Our population is more than 50 percent Latino, and we have one of the largest Muslim populations in the country. Anaheim is also one of the top tourist destinations in the world with nearly 26 million annual visitors. As elected officials, we have a moral obligation to speak out against bigotry and hate speech directed at those we represent.

Trump has viciously attacked women, people of many races, religion and creeds, veterans and POWs, representatives of the media who challenge his statements, many of our allied nations, local, state and national leaders, people of states who don’t vote in support of him, Republican party leaders who follow election law inconvenient to his campaign, and even most recently Pope Francis. In fact, anyone who engages in civil discourse that challenges him on a personal or policy level becomes the subject of vicious and malevolent attacks by Trump, his campaign and his supporters.

She strongly condemned Trump’s rhetoric but did not call for him to be banned from Anaheim.

I also took the extra step of contacting Lucille Kring, the Mayor Pro Tem of Anaheim, who told me in no uncertain terms there is no call to ban Trump from the city.

“And that’s all I’m going to say” on the subject, she added rather abruptly.

Another email we obtained indicates that the mayor of Anaheim does not support the resolution, nor does he support the idea of such a political resolution being placed on the agenda.

A 10-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Joe ran for a city council position in Riverside, Calif., in 1991 and managed successful campaigns for the Idaho state legislature. Co-author of "Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad," Joe wrote for Examiner.com from 2010 until it closed in 2016 and his work has been published at Newsbusters, Spokane Faith and Values and other sites. He now runs the Conservative Firing Line.

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